that is it for tonight's "the willis report." we will see you right back here tomorrow. lou: good evening, everybody. i am lou dobbs. uncertainty in the middle east tonight. hamas firing nearly 2000 rockets into israel since last wednesday. israel countering with more than 1400 targeted airstrikes that have killed, others, a senior member of hamas military wing in gaza. israel as quitting the bombing campaign while targeting hamas activists in their homes. hundreds wounded or dead so far as both sides say it is up to the other to end the fighting and move toward a truce. u.n. secretary-general in egypt leading the effort to mediate a

cease-fire between the two sides. fox news now reporting therefore part in their demands. a truce will happen maybe never. the prime minister of turkey earlier today accused israel of being a terrorist state. president obama reportedly making nearly daily calls israeli prime minister benjamin s. nonetanyahu meeting restraind while he demands israel meet his conditions. the president, mr. obama, chosen this difficult moment to pivot to embark on a 48 visiting burma, thailand and cambodia turn the foreign-policy from the atlantic and mediterranean to the other side of the pacific ocean. president obama cited what he called a diplomatic courtesy as he referred to burma as miramar.

not the official u.s. name for which has long been burma. the president met with cambodian strongman, the one-time communist who has held power since the mid-80s. this is the first ever trip to cambodia by a sitting united states president. as the president continues his tour through southeast asia, work continues in washington are possible fiscal cliff deal, confident such a deal would be reached to spur optimism in the market today combined with good news on housing produced a big wall street rally. crude oil hitting a one-month high at the escalation of the middle east, futures jump in almost 3%. the national association of realtors today reporting existing home sales rose more than 2% in october beating forecasts. faster pace of sales and an increase in monthly builder sentiment all contributing to the good news today in the

housing market. and wall street acting like the uncertainty of the first goal go cliff has all but disappeared. and trust in both parties has been comic scene, relentlessl my restored. the stock prices up for the best time in two months. the s&p picking up 27, the nasdaq moving out of corruption territory gaining 63 points today, 3.3 billion shares traded on the new york exchange just under the daily average for the year. the total market average moving higher as well closing 2% today representing a gain of approximately $325 million. a worsening conflict in the middle east overtaken by progress in what appears to be solutions to the fiscal cliff and signs of an improving economy in this country all combined to produce a big day on

wall street. we're taking all of that up here today with douglas holtz eakin, andrew james lyon on the obama ministrations that it to the pacific. and we'll be joined by the 18th night and the author of the brand-new book. with the fiscal cliff 43 days away, president obama over the weekend expressed confidence a deal will be reached. my next guest says the real question now is whether politics will trump economic judgment. joining us is douglas holtz eakin, the president of the american action forum. good to have you with us. i have to say, don't know what your reaction was that as i watched the market take off, i didn't see the strength of the president's words that would warrant such a powerful

reaction. >> struck me as a very naive reaction, one that is likely to be reversed as disappointment sets in. if we were to simply go ahead and go off the cliff, we have strong market reaction. the recipe for a recession in my view and one that would not be easily reversed display some people's claims to go backwards somehow. that circumstance of that kind of danger for we have already committed to raising taxes through the health care reform, there is a real premium placed not raising other taxes and getting rid of the mindless cuts across the board, i don't see that falling into place automatically. that is politics over common sense. lou: we're not even hearing discussion of the defense cuts under sequestration. we have heard only some nice but

welcomed positive words from the president. are you encouraged the fact he spoke with jamie dimon and other ceos over the weekend? >> i think it is important for him to reach out and engage. i would be much happier if he was spending his time on the weekend talking to john boehner, majority leader reid, minority leader nancy policy. lou: isis and the president would interrupt the congressional thanksgiving holiday just because of a national crisis? >> we need a deal quickly. listing the business community confidence decline. this makes it worse, in those circumstances it is hard to imagine the household sector will remain strong. it has hung in there so far but

we will not get real growth with negative investments. this deal has to get settled quickly in my view. lou: it was striking treasury secretary timothy geithner chose now is the time to talk about the importance of lifting through infinity but that feeling that is imposed by congress. i cannot believe the treasury secretary facing all of the issues that we do as a nation and its economy, the fiscal cliff would choose now to talk about the debt ceiling, for crying out loud. >> we have the fiscal cliff and there is a debt ceiling, that does not have to come up in february or march. we have a big debt problem. the president has said repeatedly he wants a balanced approach, but we have not seen a plan on the spending side yet.

we would rather see them lay out a genuinely balanced plan showing us how we will solve the debt problem as opposed to drinking into the fiscal cliff. lou: and your outlook right now, suggested your word about the enthusiasm. what do you think is going to happen? >> i would love to sit here and say there's no chance our elected leaders of a self-inflicted recession on the american economy, but i think there's a substantial probability that we will in fact go over the fiscal cliff and regret it deeply. like to see it go from something in the double digits down to zero. only with happens is for the leadership and the president to sit down at the hard work necessary to cut a deal. lou: always glad to have you with us. >> happy thanksgiving to you, your crew and your family. lou: thank you. more on the fiscal cliff and what would happen if congress

were to fail to reach a deal with the president with the "a-team" coming up next. >> how much should we pay in taxes to the government? a prominent economist says which go back to the time times of let to beaver and pay up. how does 91% feel to you? would pick it up in the "chalk talk." rocket attacks and the israeli response. our president is pivoting to asia as thunder rolls over the middle east. former commander joins us here next.

lou: tensions on the rise in the middle east tonight, hamas firing thousands of rockets into israel as our best middle east outline defends itself against airstrikes. joining us in just moments.

it was optimism that ruled wall street today. optimism over the possibility of a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, optimistic about the housing market showing strength, sales of existing homes of over 2%, even building optimism rose to the highest levels to six years last month. investors jumping in with both feet sending stock prices sharply higher. the first time in two months the mood has been so bullish on the street. volume, the dow up 208 points, the s&p up 27, closing above the moving average for those who pay attention to such things, and the nasdaq up 63 points. up 7% on the day, second-best day in dollar gains since it went public in 1984, the stock

has been under considerable selling pressure since hitting the all-time high of $705 per share back in september. slightly missinplacing this in y market today. the yield on the 10-year bond, rising 2161%. there appears to be a sharp divergence between corporations and consumers overspending, "wall street journal" reporting the largest trading companies plan to slash their capital spending by next year. the accounting and consulting firm says consumers will be spending more based on rising consumer confidence. caution concerns about the fiscal cliff could mean the fun ends in december. our next guest says the white house had to be behind the change of talking points on benghazi and the timing of president obama's southeast asia amounts to a rather old washington ploy.

regulated to be joined now by thretired commander of u.s. pacific, always great to have you with us. let's turn first to the talking points come it seems no one after general petraeus made it clear there were changes in the talking points. the testimony before congress has been surveyed. mike rogers says it has to be the white house because everybody else is testified that they didn't. do you agree? >> i agree. i'm sure the white house were present if and the national security agency counsel had his marching orders. >> for his part says part of the confusion here, primarily, i believe, it is safe to say

between the testimony he gave to congress three days after september 11 and what he said over the past few days to congress represents what happens when you try to avoid tipping off terrorists. do you buy that? >> according to congressman ki king, it certainly indicated that petraeus lied in his first testimony. lou: produce pretty straightfors she presented the truth to congress. is it possible for a military man, head of the intelligence agency to decide, take it upon himself or herself the good of the country and misrepresent reality to the united states congress? >> don't know what type of pressures were brought on them, but certainly based on what congressman king has reported in the open press, it certainly appears that way.

lou: to the pacific which means he is obviously now in southeast asia, you see a more political motivation here than if you will geopolitical or foreign-policy issue. >> this is the old washington game you have a scandal breaking in the brewing in washington, get out of town. lou: what you think of the president using the language of the former military government burma reaffirming to burma as miramar? what do you make of it have anything? >> i don't know what to make of it, but certainly while he is out there on this trip, i certainly hope he would take the opportunity to condemn china for its bullying and aggressive

tactics in the imperialism in the south and east china sea. and while he is there, he should make it very clear to china that should their tactics involve hostilities between our allies, japan and the philippines mutual defense treaty will be brought into play. anything less than that will not deter china from the aggressive tactics. a shot has been fired across. lou: give us your best judgment. such a warning be issued, will such language be used for this president? he seems to be involved with the smaller countries, if you will, of southeast asia. >> it is part of the overall security program, and if they're interested in maintaining the stability, we can't continue to stay with the position that we have if yo we don't get involved with bilateral disputes.

all that does is gives china a free hand to continue with their bullying and aggressive tactics. we know what china's objective is. the economics of it is only one part of it. their ultimate goal is to drive us out of the western pacific. they want to be the dominant player in the first island chain and out the second island chain, which includes qualm. you have to take this on. it is essential for our security and stability of all of our allies out in the western pacific. lou: how long before china can match our superiority, our navy dominance in the region? >> to have a very aggressive military program underway now. they have just been doing the first trials with what they

converted but they bought from ukraine, they developed a sophisticated ballistic submarine force as well as nuclear attack submarine. they're building a very aggressive amphibious capabili capability. all of this goes well beyond what is required for the homeland is no known threat. lou: admiral, quickly turning to israel and the engagement with hamas which looks like right now despite the involvement of united nation secretary-general and others in trying to mediate, it looks like this could well turn into a ground operation which the israelis have threatened within a matter of days. what is your outlook? speak of it certainly is a possibility, but you have to step back from this, who supplies hamas? it is iran.

and you have to look at iran's role in this current conflict. certainly egypt has a hand on the disastrous economic policy. but what it has done for iran has takin taking iran taken thee off the table. you cannot even find it in the paper today. let's face it, they've been at war with the united states for over 33 years. they conducted another act of war just a week or so ago when they fired on the unmanned drones. as usual, we did not come forth to meet the challenge. lou: thank you very much. as you point out the national media taking note of iran in this context the conflict between israel and hamas taking note of the president's agenda at the absence of china on the

specific pivot. we always appreciate talking to you. a man that folks should be paying a lot of attention to. we are. the twilight vampire franchise ending on a very high note. "twilight: breaking dawn part 2" reading in a massive $141 million in the opening weekend. $141 million. that does not count the 200 million grossed overseas, last weekend's number one fell to second place but still doing pretty well. for a 1.4 million. up next, tax-and-spend liberals, you heard about them. hoping to succeed in returning to the tax rates of the 50s.

man, how much sense does that make? and later, fox news star joins us to talk about his new book, the joy of hate. i think you're talking about, well, hating the liberals, we will let him explain. next. ♪ ♪

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♪ lou: new york times economist columnist paul krugman is arguing for a return to the 1950's when incomes in the top tax brackets had to pay a marginal tax rate, are you ready , 91%. his part of what he wrote in the times in his column. america in the 1950's made to

the rich parrot -- pay their fair share. 91 percent. it gave workers the power to bargain for decent wages and benefits, yet contrary to right-wing propaganda, define right-wing propaganda as anything that disagrees with pregnant, then and now it prospered, and we can do that again. so apparently this nobel prize-winning economist just wants to the commonwealth, raise taxes. 91 percent and everything will be fine. these tax-and-spend liberals are truly something else. in a class by himself. he fails to talk about, and we will hear tonight, the fact that back then we had a responsible government. a responsible economist and even a few responsible columnists. here's a comparison we want to draw, if we make. 1955, the middle of the decade, federal spending was just over 17 percent of gdp, 17%.

now just about 23% of gdp, the good old days. federal deficits were under 1%. that is now amounting to over 7% of gdp. back then trade was a contributor to economic growth, the economy. we were bringing in $500 million when adjusted for inflation, and now we are running a trade deficit of $536 billion. $536 billion. back then social security made at six and a half percent. six and a half percent of the federal budget. six and a half percent.

medicaid, medicare. so let's compare that six and a half% to what we're doing now. we are spending 20 percent of the budget on social security. then we throw in 21 percent more of the federal budget. medicare, medicaid, and then another 13% for other social safety net programs, food stamps. so that comes up to zero whopping 54 percent of the budget. 54 percent. krug and forgot to mention this. i mean, it's kind of importance. back then median family income was about $38,000. $38,000. today it's 62,000.

we will pretend that looks like it to and that that looks like a six. $62,000. we have not done too well in more than a half century in raising the median income of this country which is something that he is right about. we do have to fix that. you do that through economic growth, not raising taxes to 91% imagine this. he got a nobel prize. so did president obama, dundee? and the unions, back then they made up 24%, 24 percent of the workers back in 1995. 1955. today that number is a rather convenient -- because it makes this a reduction by half, of 12 percent right now. that tells you which way the country is moving. this this down on the part of carbon for a 91% tax rate, i

want you to know that if ever there were evidence that nobel prize to not equal genius, i think we can start to with mr. grubman and the number 91. >> the iron dome at work. stunning effectiveness. but a ground war on the horizon. the 18 debates the consequences. the most transparent administration ever, really? congress now wants to know about those e-mails. details ahead. the free and the brave, how about the land of pansies and the home of wiener's? have we become an oversensitive, was a fight culture? we will tell you. talking about his brand new book, the joy of hate.

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♪ lou: our next guest says our country is under attack by liberals who claim to be offended and outraged and try to disguise their own intolerance. joining us now, amongst other things the co-host of the five on the fox news channel, the host of red dye, which airs at 3:00 a.m. eastern. his new book is coming here you go, the joy of hate, how to triumph over wiener's in the age of phoney outrage. great to have you here. >> pleasure to be here. lou: and a brilliant book, as we would expect. laugh out loud funny, as we were just discussing. you came up with the word that i like to tell. derek is an orthodoxy built around it which you masterfully take apart. >> a person who claims to be

tolerant and so they need you. they champion themselves as tolerant as long as they are wrong people who agree with everything they say. a good example of this would be malaria. every bit as toxic, but they are just groups of people under the guise of open mindedness to try to close your options in life. you know, the -- lou: you are so right about it. there is this sense that the project. they are superior. some kind of support who is killing. capable of understanding edginess. but it goes on throughout our society. you refer to fox news as the death star. i love that. >> that is how they look at it. i have a whole chapter in the book about my wife and that trying to sell an apartment and walking around with the real-estate agent, looking around and seeing certain books by people like mark stein and

other things and then notices their is a picture of me with fox news. he looks at me and goes, this is new york city. you might want to get that. i know. lou: 98% of the prospective buyers will be liberal. >> take everything and put it in the chest and we buried in the ocean so no one will ever find it. lou: and it is striking when you refer to fox as the death star. talking about the death star as overwhelming all of those left wing that works we will call them. and it is really true. you get one of two reactions, at least i have. you work for fox and the other is thank god you work for fox. by the way, the latter reaction is the one that is 80 percent of the time, at least. >> you will run into people that are not fans of fox and all it takes is about five minutes before you realize that they

have never watched it. they will see something on a blog or it will hear something and the assumption is, that is the enemy. you will be at a bar, which is where i spend 95 percent of my time, and i end up talking to these people. they say, your normal. yes. you have a strange view of what we are. lou: your book, at various points, conveys the sense that you would like to be in a drunken haze, a significant portion of your time. we all know better, but i have to give you credit. the juxtaposition in one sentence is hard to do. >> that was one of the worst jokes in the book. something about how i was comparing bad news to being in a zoo with bad news, and that may be the worst joke ever written. there is a lot that i have written that are terrible.

lou: and you have been worrying about the pronunciation of news. >> i'm not even sure if i am pressing it incorrectly. that is the funny thing about it. when you do the audio version, there will be times when you will be saying words for the first time the you have never said before. have never said the word which is probably knew. but i don't know because i never said it out loud. lou: all who are watching and listening right now can resolve all of that by simply buying this book which we highly recommend. check it out now. click over to make a purchase or learn more about it, how to triumph over the age of phoney outrage. and i love that analysis. i truly do. it is a feature of our society that needs to be dealt with. tell with that.

up next, two weeks after losing the election, governor romney is being blasted by critics, and most of them are in his own party. you have to figure this out. friendly fire not so friendly. coming up here tomorrow. our federal prosecutor, executive director and filmmaker , wall street legend among our guests. cannot wait. stay with us. the "a-team" is next. the capital one cash rewards card giveyou 1% cash back on all purchases, plus a 50% annual bonus. and everyone...but her likes 50% more cash. but i'm upping my game. do you want a candy cane? yes! do you want the puppy? yes! do you want a tricycle? yes! do you want 50 percent more cash? no! ♪ festive. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card gives you 1% cash back on every purchase plus a 50% annual bonus on the cash you earn.

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♪ lou: two weeks ago governor romney was the republican party's standard bearer. then this happened. >> the president's campaign focused on certain members of his base coalition. extraordinary financial gifts from the government and then worked very aggressively to turn them out to vote. the giving away free stuff is hard thing to compete with. lou: that high-profile

republican cannot distance and so fast enough. >> if we want people to like this we have to like them first, and you don't start to like people by insulting them by saying votes were bought. we have to say we're serious about reaching a been doubling every one, another group you're there. >> i think it's nuts. first of all, it is insulting. this would be like walmart having a bad week ago in the customer severally been unruly. >> when you're in a whole, stop digging. he keeps digging. lou: the idea that they want him to stop focusing on folks giving things away. they sounded like the left themselves, many of them. not all of them, just many of them. we will take that up. those outreach efforts aimed toward latino voters who supported the president over romney by 71-27%. those folks give you the clear impression that they can reverse that if they would just give away some things of their own. another dubious decision by

chicago voters, believe it or not. they have, well, change their mind, and we will talk about top republicans saying the obama administration altered cia intelligence. we will take that up with the "a-team" here next.

♪ lou: well, as i was saying, another dubious decision -- well, not dubious at all. it was idiotic. decision by chicago voters that the recently reelected judge cynthia bram as cook county judge, despite the fact that she suffers from bipolar disorder and a psychiatrist deemed legally insane. you know, that probably isn't

that unique situation. she also faces battery charges for allegedly shutting accord deputy. she is now suspended from cases, but still collecting her $182,000 salary. of course, also reelected lots of other folks, despite some of their problems. let's turn now to the "a-team". joining us is the author of what the bleep just happened, which we say around here. >> often. lou: not often. once in awhile. radio talk-show host monica crowley, and judith miller, kevin williamson just back from his crews. that must be nice. they call you roaming correspondent over at the national review, and you take them up on it. >> as much as possible. lou: verdugo? >> jamaica and honduras.

lou: go through all of that. i'm delighted to have you back. let's turn first to the president giving to the pacific. i love the nonsense of the literati and aircraft. what do you make of it? >> he was at the reclining buddha temple because it apparently was not available. why wonder what that has to do with it. i don't think thailand and cambodia are really at the top of anybody's list right now. lou: i don't know if you're ready admiral earlier saying a sure hope he talks to the chinese. they are the principal challenger to the united states in the region. in fact him as he put it, trying to push us out of the region. do you think there will be anything above a whisper other?

>> he will get there on the next trip. lou: the next trip. >> maybe even throw in another gulf kmart to. i think when you have a crisis brewing that is a perfect time, perfect to lose it. lou: well, it was said very clearly. this is, you know, a time-honored gambit on the part of a president to get the heck out of town when things are going to help blacks is true, but four years ago barack obama said a president needs to multitask. we have a crisis in the middle east. the pacific basin needs american attention, attention from the commander-in-chief. i'm glad that he is there, but he has to deal with the chinese. i don't think you will. but we have key allies there. japan and south korea. not getting any love from the president of the united states.

you can do more than one thing and onetime. i have not seen that from him on this trip. lou: burma will be big african straighten out the name. for coming right back with the "a-team." stay with us.

lou: let's get right to it. who changed the cia talking points? >> i have no idea. if i did, the outbreaks in the

story somewhere. that should probably be the focus of what we're looking at from the state investigation. lou: do you find it interesting of who made the decision not to go save for americans in benghazi? it is ridiculous this narrative, and i hate this expression, has moved so far. >> they should be secondary to the issue of what about the security on the ground before, during the event, and we have seemed to lose track of that, and i guess. >> it is all these talking points, all these moving pieces interrelated. who denied the state department's request for added security in the weeks leading up the attack, who gave the stand down order while the attack was taking place for seven hours and the bigger question is you talk

about a cover-up, what exactly are they covering up? >> the president said he gave an order to secure the embassy, and the president gets an order in the form of a document. >> there may be an exception here as there are two others. a lot of people think the constitution has a relevant bearing on such decisions what we are seeing some changes and alterations that suggest great flicks ability on the part of the president. let's turn to israel very quickly. it looks as though a ground operation is in the offering. trying to mediate a truce, a cease-fire. what do you think? >> it is an all party's interest to have a cease-fire in late the

fiscal cliff, i hope we will not have a ground invasion. i don't think it serves israel's interest or israel's allies. >> to have effectively an easy pass to rockets over the next months and years without consequences, those consequences may lead to precisely that. >> one of the most perverse aspect of that is the reason this is so much different than previous exercises is that the egyptian government has changed. egypt run by the muslim brotherhood. the palestinian militant wing of the muslim brotherhood. somehow i were to get egyptian president negotiate a truce when he is with hamas is incredible. they have egyptian army that is

u.s. built an israeli military that is u.s. built facing off against each other is incredible. >> they need $4 billion very quickly. i don't need stability right now. >> instability would be a great thing for the regime. look at it from our own point of view. one rocket into quebec we could wipe quebec off the map. lou: thank you very much, appreciate it. now, for your comments. vice president joe must love the typtaste of leather, hillis puts his foot in his mouth. once again the real hearings, questions are not being answered, how-for-americans died. and the scandals h